(Finalcall.com)�Amnesty International�s condemnation of rights abuses abroad is well documented, but its annual report for 2001 put the spotlight on a new violator of rights: The United States of America.

The "world�s greatest democracy" and self-appointed guardian of human rights "has abdicated its duty to lead," declared William Schultz, the executive director of Amnesty International USA, during the May 30 release of the group�s yearly catalog of rights heroes, villains and violations.

"The single greatest disappointment on our Top Ten list is the decline of U.S. leadership on human rights," Mr. Schultz told the media.

America�s failures were found in government turning a blind eye to wrongs within her borders and in policies abroad that did not live up to rhetoric about respect for individual rights and freedom.

Among areas of concern inside the U.S. cited by Amnesty:

� Police misconduct and disputed police shootings of unarmed suspects were reported; a disproportionate number of the victims were from racial minorities. Many incidents of alleged abuse occurred at the end of vehicle pursuits, during traffic stops, or during police street patrols. Several suspects died after being placed in dangerous restraint holds or subdued with pepper spray.

� Torture and ill-treatment were reported in prisons, jails and juvenile detention facilities. Abuses included beatings and excessive force; sexual misconduct; the misuse of electro-shock weapons and chemical sprays; and the cruel use of mechanical restraints, including holding prisoners for prolonged periods in four-point restraint as punishment. Many reported abuses took place during forced removal of prisoners from cells.

�Cruel conditions in supermaximum prisons, where prisoners are held in prolonged detention, continued to be reported. Amnesty International�s requests to tour such facilities in Illinois and Virginia were turned down by the authorities.

� Children in detention were subjected to ill treatment which included the cruel use of restraints and prolonged isolation. Many children continued to be prosecuted as adults and sent to adult prisons where, in some states, they were not separated from adults and were held in inhumane or inappropriate conditions. An April study found youths from ethnic minority groups, especially Blacks, were more likely to be imprisoned and to serve longer sentences than white youths charged with similar offenses.

� Male guards have continued to have unsupervised access to women prisoners or detainees in women�s prisons and local jails. There were allegations of sexual abuse of prisoners by male staff in states including California, Connecticut, New York, South Carolina and West Virginia.

� Lawrence Frazier, a diabetic died in July after being restrained by guards and zapped with a 45,000 volt electro-shock stun gun after becoming delirious and "combative" in the Wallens Ridge Prison infirmary where he had been taken for hypoglycemia. Although the prison authorities said afterwards that a doctor had ruled out the stun weapon as a cause of death, this was discounted by many observers. Inquiries into the death were still pending at the end of the year.

� In 2000, 85 prisoners were executed in 14 states, bringing to 683 the total number executed since the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a moratorium on executions in 1976. The U.S. continued to violate international standards by using the death penalty against the mentally impaired, individuals who were under 18 at the time of the crime, and defendants who received inadequate legal representation. Blacks and Latinos were also more likely to receive capital sentences.

"We fundamentally disagree ... with the assertion in the report that the United States has become an �impediment� to the advancement of international human rights. I think anybody who has followed the cause of human rights around the world over the years and the decades will realize that the United States has been and will remain the leading advocate for human rights throughout the world," said Philip T. Reeker, deputy spokesman of U.S. State Department, on May 30.

"And I would just say that our record speaks very much for itself and refer you to the long shelf of Annual Human Rights Reports that we put out, painstakingly documenting the human rights situation in countries around the world," said Mr. Reeker.

He told reporters, "We respect the work, of course, of non-governmental organizations that work to advance human rights, and we often speak highly of many organizations. But obviously, in this case, we do not agree with every conclusion that they drew."

"The Amnesty International report merely indicates to me that they have finally caught up with what Black people have known all along�America is morally corrupt. Our status in this society can best be demonstrated in the Nathaniel Abraham case, and Amnesty International was right on top of that. This country will try an 11-year-old as an adult, even though the international community says it is wrong," commented James Mtume, a New York-based award winning music producer and community activist for the past 30 years.

"The U.S. death penalty reflects how primitive their criminal punishment system is. I don�t call it a justice system because they don�t give out justice to African Americans," added Ray Winbush, director of the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University in Nashville.

"It is the arrogance about the U.S. that turns the world off. They�ll tell other people about human rights violations but won�t look in their own backyard. The U.S. was kicked out of the UN Human Rights Committee," Dr. Winbush said.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council voted May 3 not to re-elect the United States to the Commission for Human Rights. This vote brought U.S. condemnation of the UN decision.

"It is generally recognized that the U.S. does things to enhance human rights around the world. But that doesn�t mean she�s perfect," said Steve Dimoff, vice president of the United Nations Association of the United States of America in Washington, D.C., explaining the human rights commission vote.

Despite its problems, the U.S. is a leading protector of human rights, Mr. Dimoff argued. He believes resentment over U.S. prodding of China and Cuba on alleged rights violations may have sparked America�s ouster from the UN panel.

That move was based on what the U.S. does abroad, not failures at home, Mr. Dimoff said.

"That vote reflects what the rest of the world knows about the U.S. This country is very hypocritical relative to its treatment of African Americans and people of color. She refuses to see the horrors of its prison system that disproportionately incarcerates African Americans," said Mr. Winbush.

Dr. Conrad Worrill, head of the National Black United Front, agrees. "The report highlights what Black people live and see every day. The U.S. is ruthless in its behavior to its own Africans in America as well as those in Africa."

Roger Wareham, co-founder of New York�s December 12th Coalition, added, "The Amnesty International report says that the condition of Black people in this society has not changed in 400 years. While that may sound extreme�any Black person regardless of their status�is susceptible to these racist police practices."

Abroad, the United States opposed an effort to ban land mines, balked at the International Criminal Court and other important treaties and conventions, and sacrificed human rights concerns for political expediency, the report added.

"It is no wonder that the U.S. was ousted from the United Nations Human Rights Commission. That defeat was precipitated in part by waning U.S. influence and double standards practiced by various administrations and Congresses in the U.S.," according to Mr. Schultz.

The U.S. failures were doubly disappointing because 50-years-ago Eleanor Roosevelt championed the need for universal respect for human rights, and 25-years-ago, President Jimmy Carter placed human rights at the center of his foreign policy, the president of Amnesty International USA said.

"Sadly, in 2001, we have no prominent leaders in government sounding the clarion call for human rights," Mr. Schultz continued. "Indifference to the abuses that occur in other countries blind us to violations at home. The U.S. government is complicit when it trains or arms the torturer or fails to speak out vigorously about abuses," he declared.

"South Korea was cited for human rights violations, but the U.S. has 37,000 troops over there who are the real power in that country. All those violations we lay at the doorsteps of the Pentagon and the White House," said Brian Becker, co-director of the International Action Center.

"There are serious human rights abuses in this country that should be addressed. I do not believe that the U.S. was kicked off the UN Human Rights Commission solely because of its domestic human rights policies," commented Jamie Fellner, a death penalty and criminal justice specialist for Human Rights Watch in New York.

Still, she continued, around the country groups are challenging prison policy and seeing some results. In Texas, several bills about application of the death penalty have reached the governor because of international focus on death penalty abuses. In California and New York, drug law changes that would keep users out of jail for simple drug charges have been advocated, said Ms. Fellner. Such laws disproportionately impact Blacks and Latinos.

"People take these reports seriously and politicians take them seriously. We need continuous grassroots activity, if we are to change the course reported in the Amnesty study," she said.